Passenger vehicles have long been utilized to display personal, humorous, political and commercial messages. The common display is, perhaps, the traditional bumper sticker. Bumper stickers are commonly utilized during political campaigns to promote a particular candidate or issue, and are often applied by individuals to promote a particular hobby, social view or favorite organization.
More recently, flexible magnetic signs have been developed which securely but releasably adhere to, for example, the exterior panel of the door of a passenger vehicle. Such magnetic signs are often applied to a personal vehicle to promote the owner's personal business. An advantage of such signs is that when the vehicle is being used for non-business purposes, the sign may be easily removed and reused at a later time.
Decals have also been applied to the windows of vehicles for all of the same reasons discussed above. The primary drawback with decals, bumper stickers and magnetic signs is that they are not visible at night unless directly illuminated by a light source, such as the headlights of another vehicle.
In an effort to provide a vehicle-associated message visible at night, there have been some attempts to fashion illumination sources, such as LED lights, which are affixed to some part of the passenger vehicle. However, this approach tends to create an apparatus that is either too-bulky or expensive for regular use in connection with passenger vehicles, or relies on direct illumination of signs which is in violation of certain vehicle codes.
A recent attempt at providing an illuminated window-mounted decals has been marketed under the POWERDECAL trademark. This device comprises a logo mounted within a housing which contains a power source and light source. The entire housing is mounted to the inside of a vehicle window such that the logo is visible through the window. At night, the power source activates an internal light source which is directed about the periphery of the decal. While this does provide some visibility to the decal during the night time, there are several disadvantages to the POWERDECAL™ design. Notably, because the decal is situated within a housing which is mounted to the inside of a window, if the window is tinted it is very difficult to see the intended display through the window during daylight hours. Moreover, because the decal is only illuminated about its periphery (and not necessarily along the design lines of the decal), night time visibility of the decal design is also limited.
Accordingly, there is a need for lighted signs for passenger vehicles which are relatively inexpensive, provide good visibility of the decal design during normal lighting conditions, and also provide excellent visibility of the decal design during night time conditions. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.